Trump justice department threatens criminal charges against state election officials unless they provide voter rolls – live

A spokesperson for the Republican National Committee once again described Graham Platner as a “rapist” in a statement sent to reporters after the Maine Democrat formally ended his US Senate campaign, treating an allegation that he raped a former romantic partner, which he has denied, as a fact.

“Republicans have been sounding the alarm about Graham Platner for months and today he exited the race without taking any accountability,” RNC spokesperson Kristen Cianci said in the statement emailed to the Guardian. “Instead, he declared himself kingmaker and his successor the carrier of his legacy – too bad his legacy is one of a sick Nazi rapist.”

The Republican party spokesperson’s certainty that the allegation Platner calls “false” is true contrasts with the doubt expressed earlier this week by her party’s president, Donald Trump.

“It’s really a question of whether or not you believe the woman,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Wednesday when asked about the allegation against Platner. “A lot of people say big falsehoods,” said the Republican president who was found liable by a jury of sexually abusing the writer E Jean Carroll in the 1990s, and then sued ABC News for reporting that he had been found “liable for rape”.

In a 2023 court order denying Trump’s motion to overturn a $2m jury award of compensatory damages, a federal judge, Lewis Kaplan, wrote that while the jury did not find that Trump had raped her “within the narrow, technical meaning of a particular section of the New York Penal Law”, which “applies only to vaginal penetration by a penis”, it did find that Trump had subjected Carroll to “[f]orcible, unconsented-to penetration of the vagina or of other bodily orifices by fingers, other body parts, or other articles”.

“The finding that Ms. Carroll failed to prove that she was ‘raped’ within the meaning of the New York Penal Law does not mean that she failed to prove that Mr. Trump ‘raped’ her as many people commonly understand the word ‘rape,’” the judge added. “Indeed, as the evidence at trial recounted below makes clear, the jury found that Mr. Trump in fact did exactly that.”

After a federal judge dismissed a Department of Justice lawsuit seeking to compel Maryland to provide the federal government with an electronic copy of its statewide voter registration list, as the Trump administration attempts to assert control of state-run elections, Maryland’s top election official was threatened this week with criminal prosecution in a letter from Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for the justice department’s civil rights division.

The state’s elections administrator, Jared DeMarinis, described it to Maryland Matters, a nonprofit news site, as “a nice love letter from the Department of Justice threatening my arrest.”

“It is just unconscionable to threaten and try to intimidate election officials, not just in Maryland, but throughout the United States,” DeMarinis added.

“After losing in court,” Maryland senator Chris Van Hollen wrote on social media with a link to the Maryland Matters report, the Trump administration “is now threatening election officials in Maryland and across the country to get access to voter rolls. This is yet another outrageous attempt to sow doubt in our democracy & intimidate states. We must hold the line.”

Dhillon told Real America’s Voice, a far-right network created to host Steve Bannon’s podcast, that she sent similar letters, threatening “potential criminal penalties” for “knowingly retaining noncitizens” on registered voter lists, to election officials in every US state this week.

Speaking to the pro-Trump host John Solomon, Dhillon mocked the “hyperventilating” response to her letter from Utah’s Republican lieutenant governor, Deidre Henderson.

Henderson, who has also pushed back on the administration’s attempt to have the US Post Office refuse to deliver mail ballots in states that do not submit lists of approved voters to the federal government, wrote on social media:

Got another love letter this morning from the DOJ sprinkled throughout with threats of criminal prosecution. I’m sure I’m not the only chief election officer of a state who is being targeted for following state and federal laws by resisting DOJ’s demands for private voter data that have thus far been ruled illegal by at least a dozen courts. This is truly bizarre behavior by the federal agency that is supposed to be protecting civil rights.

Washington’s Democratic secretary of state, Steve Hobbs, accused the Department of Justice of “accelerating down a slippery slope” by issuing criminal threats to him and other state officials who are empowered to administer elections by the US constitution’s elections clause.

“Attempts to revive disproven claims of rigged elections will not deter election professionals from doing their job of overseeing accessible, accurate, auditable elections,” Hobbs said in a statement after receiving his letter from Dhillon.

Although Donald Trump signed an executive order early in his second term attempting to take control of major parts of the nation’s election systems, courts have ruled that the US president has no constitutional authority over federal election administration.

The nonprofit news site Votebeat reported earlier this week that although officials in all 50 states received the letter, “many did not immediately realize it; in several states, the Justice Department sent the letter to the generic email addresses listed on agency websites for use by the public.”

Rick Hasen, an election law professor at UCLA, told Votebeat, the letters are “in line with the Trump administration’s efforts to push the myth of mass noncitizen voting and to threaten and intimidate state and local election officials”.

The Democratic senator John Fetterman, who has faced mounting political challenges, is joining forces with the Republican senator Dave McCormick to launch a new joint fundraising committee, a move that is likely to fuel additional questions about Fetterman’s increasingly rightward lurch.

Pennsylvania’s two US senators have established a shared fundraising committee that will collect donations benefiting both of their campaigns in an unusual bipartisan arrangement.

Federal Election Commission records filed on Monday show the creation of Common Ground PA. The filing identifies the leadership Pacs and principal campaign committees for both Fetterman and McCormick as participants in the joint committee. Politico first reported the formation of the fundraising committee this week.

The move led to fresh speculation that Fetterman might be planning a party switch. Rick Wilson, the longtime political consultant and anti-Trump activist, predicted “He’s gonna flip” in a social media post in response to the new fundraising committee.

Nick Field, a local politics writer in Pennsylvania, wrote: “Fetterman caucusing with the Republicans in 2027, and even trying to run in 2028 with their support, looks likelier and likelier by the day.”

The Maine secretary of state’s office issued a statement on Friday confirming that “a formal notice has been received from U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner” making his withdrawal from the race official.

The office was careful to point out that Platner had not formally withdrawn by simply posting his letter on social media earlier, but said that he is now no longer a candidate, setting off a rush to replace him on the November ballot. One of the declared candidates is Maine’s current secretary of state, Shenna Bellows.

“A public declaration is not an official withdrawal, and a candidate must formally withdraw in writing to the Elections office, including signature,” the office explained.

The statement continued:

Because the candidate officially withdrew before 5 p.m. of the 2^nd Monday in July (July 13, 2026), his name will not appear on the ballot, and his political party may replace him. The deadline for the party to name a replacement is the 4^th Monday in July (July 27, 2026). Maine Statute does not address how a replacement candidate may be chosen by a party, only that the candidate filling the vacancy must be a ‘qualified person.’ Announcements about how a replacement candidate will be chosen or when that candidate will be announced will come from the political party.

Graham Platner just posted a copy of a letter on social media which says: “I write to formally withdraw my candidacy for United States Senate.”

The rest of the letter which is signed by the candidate who was accused of sexual assault, reads:

On June 9th, 156,084 Mainers voted for a new kind of politics. One that is representative of people down here in the real world – not billionaires, oligarchs, or the political establishment. Mainers voted for Medicare for All; to ban billionaires from buying elections; and for an end to taxpayer-funded genocide and forever wars. They voted for time and dignity; for strong unions and jobs they can raise families on; for the hope of buying a home; for the chance to retire with grace.

People are desperate for change. For this broken system to be righted. For the American experiment to be furthered. Over the past eleven months, thousands and thousands of Mainers poured their hearts, time, and talent into a movement to deliver that vision. I will be forever grateful to them.

And in submitting this letter today, I seek to further the movement we have built together and the future we believe in.

My name may have been on the ballot, but that ballot line belongs to the people of Maine. As such, please consider this notice as my official withdrawal from consideration for this office.

F*ck ICE. Free Palestine. Up the Hearts.

Solidarity forever,

Graham Platner

Although Platner’s letter was addressed “To Whom It May Concern”, the Maine secretary of state’s office confirmed to the Associated Press that it had received the letter on Friday, making the withdrawal official.

Congressional Democrats released an investigative report on Friday that accuses the Trump administration of misusing the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), by diverting staff and resources away from disaster response to support immigration enforcement operations.

The report found that the administration used Fema staff to support the work of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection(CBP) operations by carrying out administrative duties, like hiring new immigration officers, and working at detention centers.

Among the key findings of the investigation, Democrats said, was that Department of Homeland Security leadership “relied on FEMA to serve as the backbone of large-scale immigration enforcement and detention operations and that FEMA’s delayed response to the Texas flooding resulted in demonstrable harm to disaster survivors.”

“After the Trump administration hollowed out a third of FEMA’s workforce, it put disaster professionals to work as the ‘operational backbone’ of its cruel mass deportation agenda, likely in violation of federal law,” Greg Stanton, an Arizona congressman who directed the investigation, said of the report’s findings.

“We’re in the middle of a dangerous and destructive hurricane and wildfire season. The stakes couldn’t be higher,” Stanton added. “Every FEMA employee detailed to ICE and CBP should be recalled immediately, and Congress must put real penalties in the law so no future administration can raid this life-saving agency again.”

“While communities across the country are struggling to prepare for more severe and frequent natural disasters, the Trump administration is using FEMA employees and funding for its large-scale, brutal immigration enforcement operations,” Rick Larsen, a Washington congressman who is the senior Democrat on a House subcommittee on emergency management, added.

We also have new pictures coming through of the the giant new helipad that Donald Trump confirmed a few days ago is being built on the White House South Lawn.

The granite helipad will accommodate the presidential helicopter Marine One and is being paid for by a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin.

Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday:

We’re building a helipad, a beautiful helipad, and it’s got the seal of the White House on it, in granite, in carved granite. It’s really a beautiful thing.

He added that Sikorsky Aircraft would pay for the project. “It’s about $5 or $6m. They’re paying the full cost,” he said.

The United States has issued new Iran-related ⁠sanctions following Iran’s resumption of attacks on international shipping in the strait ⁠of Hormuz, the ⁠treasury department ​said today.

The latest sanctions target Iranian financial facilitator Ali Ansari, who the treasury department described as a “key financier” who “oversees a sprawling global network of assets benefitting Iran’s leader – Mojtaba Khamenei – and other regime elites.”

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign ‌Assets Control (OFAC) also targeted key Iranian exchange houses that it said moved billions of dollars ​annually on behalf of sanctioned Iranian banks, using layers of shell companies to obscure the government’s illicit financial activity.

Earlier today, Donald Trump once again declared that the US-Iran memorandum of understanding is “over”, before adding that talks with Tehran would continue.

The White House is making security-focused upgrades to its front door, CNN reports citing an official, in a project that is expected to take several months.

The changes, which CNN’s sources said have long been advocated by the Secret Service, are aimed at fortifying the White House entrance at the north portico, which has recently been obscured by scaffolding and a tarp as workers repair the exterior columns at Donald Trump’s request.

The North Portico fortifications are expected to be complete by approximately mid-September, the White House official told CNN.

It comes amid a heightened focus on boosting presidential security after Trump has been the target of multiple assassination attempts, including April’s shocking shooting at the White House correspondents’ dinner and an alleged plot to attack last month’s UFC fight on the White House South Lawn.

Earlier, we brought you the Washington Post’s report that the Trump administration plans to erect new permanent fences outside the White House, in addition to previously reported plans to build new permanent fencing around Lafayette Square, the public park across from the White House.

Earlier we reported that Donald Trump has been accused of trying to “rig” November’s midterm elections after he fired the last three members of an independent federal commission.

Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP civil rights organization, said in response to Trump’s move:

Donald Trump knows that in November voters will reject everything he stands for. The economy is devastating, he’s starting endless wars resulting in Americans dying, and his paramilitary ICE police force is terrorizing our communities. Trump is terrified of the sacred power we all hold as voters, and that’s why he wants to rig this election.

Mr President, your plan will fail miserably. If you think the American people will allow fascism, you are gravely mistaken. The NAACP will do everything in our power to send people to the polls and make their voices heard.

A White House official has told NBC News that Donald Trump will allow the bipartisan housing bill to become law.

The bill, which Trump has said he will not sign in protest over Congress’s failure to pass his restrictive voting bill, is set to become law at midnight anyway – unless the president vetoes it. His announcement earlier had left it unclear as to whether he planned to use that veto.

Further to our earlier post that four ⁠US senators have said they’ve reached agreement with the Trump administration to move ⁠forward with updated ⁠legislation ​on Russia sanctions, we now have this statement from Richard Blumenthal, Lindsey ​Graham, Jeanne Shaheen and Roger ‌Wicker.

We are proud to announce that we have reached an agreement with the Trump administration ⁠to move our updated Russia sanctions legislation forward. We are very pleased with this significant progress and expect ⁠to roll out the legislation very soon.

As Russia intensifies its slaughter of civilians, it is imperative ‌that the legislative and executive branches work together to create tools to exact a heavy price on those who buy Russian oil and natural gas, fueling the Putin war machine.

The White House did not immediately respond to ‌a Reuters request for comment.

Graham, ‌who met with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv today, said the agreement meant the legislation could move forward, ‌giving Trump fresh tools to help end the war, which is now in its fifth year.

“We’ve reached an agreement with the White House on a version of the Russian sanctions bill that they will support. It means it’s going to become law,” he told reporters, wrapping up his tenth visit to Kyiv.

The legislation, which Graham has been working on with fellow Republicans and Democrats for months, ​would impose sanctions on countries doing business with Russia, including buyers of its energy exports, over Moscow’s failure to negotiate a peace deal to end its war in Ukraine.

On Wednesday, ​Trump said ​that he and Zelenskyy had developed a “very good” relationship, and both Moscow and Kyiv wanted to end the war that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.